Updated 9:53 am, Thursday, April 5, 2012

A Louisiana man paid a Vidor woman more than $750,000 over an approximately eight-year period in return for sexually explicit photos and videos involving her 2- and 6-year-old children, according to an FBI affidavit for the man's arrest.

To protect the identity of the children, The Enterprise is not naming the woman, who died at Baptist Beaumont Hospital in January. The circumstances surrounding her death are unclear.

Court documents say that on Sept. 12, the photo-sharing website Photobucket alerted the FBI that someone uploaded a video that showed a minor involved in sexually explicit conduct with an adult woman.

The Denver-based company provided the government with the email address and user name connected to the account from which the video originated, according to court papers.

The FBI discovered the email address belonged to the Vidor woman who received money - 734 money transactions totaling $751,139.74 from 2004 to 2012 - from Reese.

Family members confirmed the woman in the video was the Vidor woman and that the child was her 2-year-old son, according to an FBI affidavit.

Another video showed the woman in "questionable contact" with a minor girl, but it did not meet the federal definition of child pornography, according to court paperwork.

Family members identified the Vidor mom and her 6-year-old daughter in that video, according to the affidavit.

The woman's mother told FBI investigators that she knew Reese was paying her daughter in return for sexually explicit videos, but she did not know the children were involved, court papers state.

FBI investigators also interviewed the woman's sister, who said she also recorded sex acts for Reese in return for cash which she received through money orders, according to the paperwork.

That woman said her sister also "conducted sexually explicit activities with animals" in videos for Reese.

Court papers also accuse Reese of paying another woman for sexually explicit photos of her young daughter.

That woman, whom court papers identified as "a person close to" the Vidor woman, told FBI investigators that Reese paid her for the images, and that he also directed her to commit sexual acts with a dog while the daughter watched, according to court papers.

Again, The Enterprise is not naming the woman to protect the identity of her daughter.

Michael Fawer, the Covington, La.-based attorney who is representing Reese, did not return a call seeking comment.

Reese was indicted March 21 in the Eastern District of Texas, after being arrested March 5 and charged in the Eastern District of Louisiana.

The case was transferred to the East Texas division of the federal court system on March 28 because the images originated in this area.

An indictment is not evidence of guilt.

Sexual exploitation carries a prison term of between 15 and 30 years and a fine of up to $250,000.

Attorneys will meet on May 29 in Judge Marcia A. Crone's courtroom for a pre-trial conference during which a trial date should be set.